January 2022 Competition: American Pale Ales

[Stu's Brews]

Congratulations to @dave_77 @MickDundee and @Benfleet Brewery - would definitely be interested to see your recipes as it sounds like the bar was rather high!

Thanks @NormanHurst for organising

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Well done all and special congrats of course to @dave_77

 

[Broken Toe]

Well done guys! Thanks @NormanHurst for the judging

 

[MickDundee]

Happy with second place there, I assume the fact it placed means that my new bottle filler did its job and my NEIPA made it in once piece without any oxidation.

If the standard was as high as the American pales category I judged late last year then second place is a very good showing.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Ah, well pleased with this. I made this just before Christmas and it was so busy at the time it didn’t made it into my brew day thread.
It was basically my usual Summit pale ale but this time I dry hopped with 150g of CML Punk’d Up hop mix and used CML Voss Kveik yeast fermented at 38 C. Recipe below if anyone is interested. Congratulations to @dave_77 and to @MickDundee, well done to everyone who entered and showed our collective brews can make a commercial beer seem ordinary and big thank you to @NormanHurst and all the judges

Benfleet Pale

HOME BREW RECIPE:

Title: Benfleet Pale

Brew Method: All Grain

Style Name: American Pale Ale

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 23 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 27.3 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.039
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 4.77%
IBU (tinseth): 31.14
SRM (morey): 5.3
Mash pH: 5.6

FERMENTABLES:
3.5 kg - Pilsen/Lager (83.3%)
200 g - Crystal Malt 150 (4.8%)
250 g - Carapils (6%)
250 g - Torrified Wheat (6%)

HOPS:
10 g - Summit (18.5 AA), Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 16.54
10 g - Summit (18.5 AA), Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 6
30 g - Cascade (7 AA), Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Hop Stand for 15 min, IBU: 2.74
30 g - Summit (18.5 AA), Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 15, Use: Hop Stand for 15 min, IBU: 5.87
150 g - CML Punk’d Up, Type: Pellet, AA: ?, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Strike, Temp: 66 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 22.03 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 76 C, Time: 15 min, Amount: 8.63 L

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.25 each - Campden Tablets, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
2.9 g - Gypsum, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
4.5 g - Lactic acid, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash
0.25 each - Campden Tablets, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Sparge
2 g - Gypsum, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Sparge
3.4 g - Lactic acid, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Sparge
0.5 each - Protofloc, Time: 10 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
3 g - Yeast Nutrient, Time: 5 min, Type: Other, Use: Boil

YEAST:
CML VOSS KVEIK ALE YEAST
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 80%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 25 - 40 C
Fermentation Temp: 38 C

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Hoppy Pale
Ca2: 144.2
Mg2: 10
Na: 52
Cl: 86
SO4: 199.2
HCO3: 112.7

 

[dave_77]

Below is a link for the West Coast IPA

https://share.brewfather.app/NatFAgdimyoJFz

 

[MickDundee]

Mine was a sort of user-upper. I got a load of free hops and grain back in October and was trying to use it up - I’d usually only use 3 hops in a NEIPA (Note the Rakau at the bottom of the list is actually a high krausen addition because I forgot I had it and thought “what’s the worst that could happen if I just throw it in?”)

Yeast was WHC Juice Machine

This was my water profile:

 

[samale]

Well done everyone
Congratulations Dave

 

[James_turney]

Congrats to the winners and thanks for posting your recipes always interesting to see what other people are doing.

Cheers

 

[NormanHurst]

Feedback collated and I will send it out to all entrants later this evening. Keep an eye out for the PMs from about 8pm onwards.

I've tried to be as honest and constructive as possible, but amateur beer judging will always have a subjective element so if you don't agree with my comments then fair enough as it is your beer

Overall the standard was very good. 4 or 5 beers really stood out from the pack though and reading through our comments what made the difference was the ability of those brewers to keep the flavour intensity of the hops really high through both the aromas and the palate.

I mentioned the commercial ringer we added to the blind tasting. It was Dark Star APA chosen because it was a 500ml bottle and readily available. It scored in the lower half of the tasting simply because it had so little character. It was clearly very well made - crystal clear, spot on carbonation, lovely colour - but was boring to drink. Perhaps Asahi's accountants don't like spending money on hops!

Lesson of the tale, we can and do make some excellent beers and can trump the big names out there. Big slaps on the back all round.

If @Chippy_Tea and the mods are happy, I'll also start a simple 2022 Competition results thread with the Top 3 beers and a link to the thread and winning recipes. It can be a reference tool for those who are interested and the other 11 judges this year can add their results in due course. It could perhaps be a sticky at the top of the comps and meet-ups sub forum?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If @Chippy_Tea and the mods are happy, I'll also start a simple 2022 Competition results thread with the Top 3 beers and a link to the thread and winning recipes. It can be a reference tool for those who are interested and the other 11 judges this year can add their results in due course. It could perhaps be a sticky at the top of the comps and meet-ups sub forum?

Its your forum post whatever you want

 

[matt76]

@NormanHurst I'd also like to add my thanks to you for judging I'm quite certain it's a lot more time consuming and takes a lot more effort than one might at first imagine to take it seriously and then provide such detailed feedback on a good number of beers - great job dude, have yourself a homebrew